State redistricting debate far from over

A plan that surfaced late last month would adopt certain political lines permanently, trying to help end a redistricting battle in Texas.

AUSTIN - The lines will ever be redrawn. A plan that surfaced late last month would adopt certain political lines permanently, trying to help end a redistricting battle in Texas.

I checked the status of the effort with San Angelo’s state Rep. Drew Darby, chairman of the House Redistricting Committee.

“It’s going nowhere,” he said.

Shifting populations in Texas means shifting the voting areas that determine who votes for which representative. That process can kill a lawmaker’s chance at re-election, and minority groups are well aware of it.

Minority groups advocated against maps that lawmakers drew during the last legislative session, saying they didn’t create enough minority districts despite considerable minority population growth in the state.

Texas must check with the federal government to get pre-clearance for its maps, a step meant to ensure minority voters aren’t disenfranchised. Those maps didn’t pass; the feds rejected them.

So a group of federal judges drew temporary maps.

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott sent a letter to House Speaker Rep. Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, asking him to make the maps permanent.

“When the Supreme Court issues its ruling in Shelby County v. Holder, the Texas redistricting case will return to the San Antonio court for further legal proceedings,” the letter states. “The best way to avoid further intervention from federal judges in the Texas redistricting plans, and ensure an orderly election without further delay or uncertainty, is to enact the interim maps during the regular session.”

The letter is dated March 8. That day, Darby filed HB 3840 to make the interim maps permanent.

Darby was vice chairman for transportation during the last legislative

session. Now he isn’t on the transportation committee, which he said didn’t surprise him when I checked after the committee announcements were made.

He is, however, chairman of the appropriations subcommittee that handles transportation. So in paying for roads, he is still in the upper echelon of lawmakers.

He is also chairman of the House Redistricting Committee.

He said the bill probably wouldn’t surface until after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling, which could happen in the summer. Then the Legislature could call together a special session to decide what the state wants to do about the new maps.

Meanwhile, the Mexican American Legislative Caucus filed a civil suit against the state in the U.S. District Court in San Antonio, stating that its members don’t believe the interim maps are good enough.

“Plaintiff MALC files this Advisory to inform this Court of its concerns with the State’s most recent attempts to circumvent and avoid the implementation of plans that provide for fair and equitable political access for minority voters of Texas and that fully remedy the discrimination established both in this Court and in the District Court for the District of Columbia,” the suit states.

It remains to be seen how lawmakers will respond to the task of ensuring fair maps, and which lines will serve which interests.

Matthew Waller covers the Legislature for Scripps Texas Newspapers and works in Austin. Contact him at mwaller@gosanangelo.com or via Twitter @waller_matthew